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Jetpack V.S. Google Analytics. It’s a good question to ask if you are looking to start getting information about how your WordPress website is doing. Which is better? Is jetpack a good enough analytics tool? Is Google Analytics Better than Jetpack? Should you use both? I’ll be touching on my experience and recommendations on both these popular free analytics tools and whether or not it makes sense for your website type.
What is Jetpack Analytics and What is it Good for?
Jetpack Analytics is the default analytics tool that can be used on any WordPress website. It’s owned by Automatic, the same company that owns WordPress, and Tumblr so it’s customized specifically to help make WordPress blogs, websites and articles easy to understand.
Jetpack Analytics is really good at helping you understand the fundamentals of your websites analytics. It by default can help you track post views, page views, and likes from other WordPress bloggers.
As a free tool, where Jetpack Analytics struggled is in reporting duplicate interactions. Duplicate interactions are when the analytics tool you use misunderstands a metric and duplicates the result, giving you a false report of the analytics.
Jetpack is not the only tool that has this problem, in fact most free tools on the internet struggle to identify truely unique users. That’s because it takes a lot of processing power to track and calculate on a daily basis how many people are interacting on your website.
Don’t let that scare you off though. Overall, jetpack is a very solid tool to understanding your blog or business website without spending big time or big money on another analytics tool.
Who should use Jetpack Analytics?
Jetpack Analytics is awesome for the casual analytics consumer who wants daily, weekly, or monthly reports of their websites performance. The jetpack dashboard is very easy to understand, simple to read, and easy to find unique insights about how your visitors are interacting with your blog or website.
It can even be the launching point for a new writer/author looking to write some short stories and understand the way people interact with blog posts.
What is Google Analytics and What is it Good for?
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that allows website owners to track and analyze their website traffic. It’s an essential tool for businesses and individuals looking to understand and improve their online presence.
With Google Analytics, website owners can monitor the number of visitors to their site, their demographics, behavior, and the source of their traffic. The service provides valuable insights into how visitors interact with a website, such as which pages they visit most frequently, how long they stay on each page, and where they drop off.
In addition to providing detailed information about website traffic, Google Analytics also offers a range of tools to help website owners improve their website’s performance. For example, website owners can use the service to set up goals and track conversions, analyze website speed and performance, and identify areas for improvement in terms of user experience.
Who should use Google Analytics?
Anyone who owns or manages a website, from small businesses to large corporations, can benefit from using Google Analytics. The service is useful for website owners in any industry or niche, whether they’re selling products or services, providing information, or simply looking to build an online presence.
Google Analytics is particularly valuable for website owners who want to better understand their website traffic and audience. By analyzing website traffic data, website owners can identify patterns, trends, and user behaviors to improve their website’s performance and user experience.
Avoid these Mistakes on Jetpack Analytics:
Number one: don’t trust your daily active users. These numbers are estimates and your monthly numbers are more accurate.
Number 2: don’t ignore Google analytics and prefer jetpack. Google analytics is much more well equipped to understand the way users are navigating your website so it’s worth taking some extra time to review it before making business decisions.
Avoid these Mistakes on Google Analytics
Google analytics is awesome but there are easy ways to make big mistakes. Here are the 6 biggest mistakes I commonly see on Google analytics installations.
- 1. Not setting up goals: One of the most critical mistakes website owners make is not setting up goals in Google Analytics. Goals help measure the success of specific actions, such as purchases or form submissions, and allow website owners to track conversions.
- 2. Not filtering out internal traffic: Website owners often forget to filter out internal traffic, such as traffic from employees or contractors who may access the site frequently. This can skew the data, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of actual user behavior.
- 3. Not configuring site search: If a website has a search bar, it’s important to configure site search in Google Analytics. This enables website owners to track what visitors are searching for, which can provide valuable insights into user behavior.
- 4. Not setting up event tracking: Event tracking allows website owners to track specific user interactions, such as clicks on buttons, downloads, or video plays. Not setting up event tracking can cause website owners to miss out on valuable data.
- 5. Not monitoring data regularly: Google Analytics data is only valuable if it’s accurate and up-to-date. Website owners should regularly check their data to ensure everything is tracking correctly and make adjustments as necessary.
- 6. Not understanding the data: Finally, it’s crucial to have a solid understanding of the data in Google Analytics. Simply looking at the numbers without context can lead to misinterpretation and poor decision-making. Website owners should take the time to learn about the metrics and understand how they relate to their website’s performance.
How to use Jetpack Analytics and Google Analytics Together
Yes, it is possible to use Jetpack Analytics and Google Analytics together on a website.
Using both analytics tools can provide website owners with a more comprehensive understanding of their website traffic and user behavior. Jetpack Analytics provides insights into page views, post views, and referrers, while Google Analytics offers more in-depth data such as demographics, behavior, and conversion tracking.
To use both tools simultaneously, website owners can install the Jetpack plugin and enable the Jetpack Analytics feature. They can also add the Google Analytics tracking code to their website to start collecting data. It’s important to ensure that the tracking code is added correctly and that there are no conflicts between the two analytics tools.
One thing to note is that using multiple analytics tools can slow down a website’s load time, so website owners should be mindful of this and ensure that their website’s performance is not negatively affected.
In summary, using Jetpack Analytics and Google Analytics together can provide website owners with a more comprehensive understanding of their website’s performance and user behavior. However, it’s important to ensure that both tools are set up correctly and that they don’t slow down the website’s load time.
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Disclaimer: None of the information presented on this site constitutes legal, business, tax, or medical advice. In each scenario, it’s recommended to first chat with a medical, legal, business, or tax professional before making any decisions.
